Continuing our Cellarmanship series, about the joys and how-to of storing and aging your beer at home, we interviewed the brewers at Avery Brewing Co. in Boulder. Matt Thrall is Avery’s head brewer and Andy Parker is the head of their barrel program. Avery’s barrel program has brought us some spectacular beers including, but not limited to, Rumpkin, Uncle Jacob’s Stout, Brabant, Immitis, and Muscat D’Amor. Avery’s non-barrel aged beers are also delicious, you may have heard of some of these: Hog Heaven, DuganA, Mephistopheles, Samael’s, The Czar, The Reverend, and Maharaja to name a few.

http://vimeo.com/video/59463153

In this interview we talk to Andy and Matt about the joys of drinking beer fresh. We talk about off-flavors and oxygenation in aged beer, especially Trans 2 Nonenal which imparts cardboard flavors in addition to sherry and port flavors. We open up a vertical of Avery’s Hog Heaven (and Mephistopheles for a later video). You might be surprised by some of the things they say about aging your beer at home. Also check out our previous interview with Eric and Lauren Salazar, of New Belgium, for more on the topic.
We’re curious, what is in your home cellar? What types of beer do you prefer to age? Are you sitting on anything special? What’s your most memorable experience with an aged beer? Have you had any go bad? Let us know what you think. Cheers!